'Don't disrespect my genetics': Sione Tuipulotu targets ambitious return

Scotland’s injured captain Sione Tuipulotu has vowed he will “be back in 12 weeks playing rugby” despite being warned he may be out of action for five months.

The Glasgow Warriors centre is one of the headline absentees from this year’s Guinness Six Nations after cruelly tearing his pec just days before the Championship started.

A catastrophic injury to Scotland’s and Glasgow’s lynchpin is only compounded by the fact that this is a British and Irish Lions year, and the 27-year-old was an early shoo-in not only to make Andy Farrell’s squad, but his starting XV.

A five-month recovery timeframe would end Tuipulotu’s hopes of helping the Warriors defend their United Rugby Championship title, and would jeopardise his chances of facing the nation of his birth in a red jersey, but a 12-week return would mean his domestic and international season is far from over.

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“I’m aiming for 12 weeks,” the 30-cap international recently told Jim Hamilton when joining The Big Jim Show.

“A lot of people have messaged me talking about five months but I always reply to them ‘don’t disrespect my genetics,’ because I can get back quick.

“I know I can do all the right things and my body will reward me if I do all the right things and I’ll be back in 12 weeks playing rugby. That’s the only update I can give.”

For a player who had never previously suffered a long-term injury, the entire process was strange for the centre, who opened up about being in “denial” after suffering the injury during training to the point where he was still doing push-ups while waiting to receive a scan.

“I had a tear in my pec, my tendon wasn’t fully ruptured or anything like that but once I did it I knew something was wrong but with everything coming up – the Six Nations and captaining – I was so in denial about it,” he said.

“When I got pulled into the physio room, I saw a little divot in my armpit as the ultimate sign, but I was still in denial. I walked straight out to training with my boots on, I told the physio I was going home and they were like ‘wait, where are you going? We need to assess it, we need to get you a scan.’ I was like ‘I’m out of here.’

“I was in a panic because I’d never been hurt before in my career. My longest injury out was five weeks in my whole career. So it was a new feeling.

“When I got to the scan, it was a two-hour wait to get a scan and I started doing push-ups and being like ‘I’m good, I’m good,’ trying to convince myself. I had a torn pec and I was there doing this like ‘wait a minute, I’m good.’

“At that time, because I had convinced myself that I was fine, I felt okay, but when I got into the scan – I was in there for 40 minutes on my back – and I went to get up and I couldn’t because all the weight had been down on my chest. But that was when I knew things were wrong.

“But I’ve had the surgery now, to be honest I didn’t ask many questions about it. I was really nervous because I’d never been in there before in my career.”